Tuesday, April 01, 2008

There's No PLace Like Home

It’s good to be back. All my distant engagements are over for a few months. I still have a few coming up, but they are all within 150 miles of home. I am sick of staying in hotels, and smelling like hotel soap. I’m sick of seven hour, one-way drives through ice, snow, rain, mud slides and fog. I do miss the convenience of high speed internet that hotels provide these days, but I’ll get over that and learn to love my dial-up connection at home again.

One thing I will miss is the hospitality of the people all over the Pacific Northwest. When ever I do a class or lecture at a conference I meet the coolest people. I meet so many people who have traveled to Astoria at one time or another and they are so gracious and complementary toward our region of the world. It “is” beautiful here.

It feels very good that people were actually able to benefit from what I can share of my knowledge and experience. It’s great to hear a room full of a hundred people laughing with you and not at you. It is cathartic to be able to share your mistakes with others so they may learn from them. It’s also nice to see the expression on people’s faces when they “get it.” It’s really funny to retire to your hotel room after talking for six hours and see yourself on the local TV news because agriculture is important to these regions. It's also funny to see that it is true, the camera does add 20 pounds. It is very gratifying to read emails of thanks and follow-up questions when you get home. It’s especially nice to be invited back to do it again the following year and to get other invitations to speak elsewhere.

5 Comments:

I know, this never occurred to me either, but I hear you can bring your very own soap with you when you travel. And shampoo. Hell, my mom even brings her own sheets (she picks up the comforter with a gloved hand and piles it in a corner so she doesn't have to come in contact with it (she watches too much 20/20).

Lori, it's all I can do to pack a change of clothes. I'm usually more concerned with packing up all the technology I drag around with me.

Mike, I somehow avoided eating the local food. I was too tired to go out, as were the organizers.

Crowbar, that means I need to lose ten pounds... As for the dial-up, it's $8 a month as opposed to 3X 4X or 5X that price. I don't do a lot of graphic stuff, so as long as I can email and up-load to the blog I'm happy and I don't need the speed.